The present invention generally relates to visual recognition of an object by an electronic device and also relates to virtually-attaching or associating digitized information to the object. More specifically, the present invention relates to one or more embodiments of digital annotation-based visual recognition book pronunciation systems and related methods of operation.
Modern portable electronic devices, such as “smart” mobile phones and wearable electronic glasses, are increasingly capable of performing visual recognition of certain objects using a camera lens, global positioning system (GPS) coordinate information, electronic map information, and other resources. In some instances, an electronically-recognized object, such as a landmark, a building, and a tourist attraction, enable a portable electronic device and/or a data storage connected to the portable electronic device to retrieve useful information, which can be overlaid on top of the electronically-recognized object on a real-time basis. For example, a user wearing electronic glasses may glance at a landmark, and a transparent display on the electronic glasses may display historical or background information associated with the landmark. The real-time overlaying of information on top of a user's current line of sight is also known as “augmented reality.”
A massive-scale visual recognition of objects and digital annotation of various information to the objects are still at an early stage of engineering feasibility and commercialization today. The sole inventor of the present invention had also previously invented a novel massive-scale visual recognition and digital annotation engine, with a trademarked name “Slin'Gooz,” which is in the process of being deployed in various industries and market segments. However, various applications involving augmented reality have not yet addressed substantial synergistic benefits in education markets.
For example, in the English as Second Language (ESL) education markets or in the early childhood education markets, only specialized printed publications that embed certain printed dot patterns are able to be read aloud when a specialized text-reading pen scans a particular word using optical character recognition and/or infrared signature detection methods. The existing book pronunciation technologies require specialized text prints for compatibility with the specialized text-reading pen, which significantly limits the availability and the selection of books that can be utilized for voice pronunciation of books' contents. Furthermore, the specialized text-reading pen requires a constant contact to the surface of the book for deciphering the specialized text prints, thereby causing user inconvenience and distraction. Moreover, the existing book pronunciation technologies do not easily enable a third-party entity to create, update, and/or revise book pronunciation contents for a particular book, as the specialized text-reading pen typically only accesses locally-stored voice data and/or locally-stored algorithms for book pronunciations.
Therefore, it may be advantageous to devise a novel book pronunciation system and its related infrastructure that can perform visual recognition on any conventional printed publications for voice pronunciation of conventional printed publication contents, without requiring a specialized text-reading pen or special printed dot patterns only recognized by the specialized text-reading pen. Furthermore, it may also be advantageous to devise a novel book pronunciation system and its related infrastructure that enable a dynamically-updatable selection of voice pronunciation files and contents, which can be virtually-attached to or associated with a physical book or a printed publication via digital annotation across a cloud-computing network.
In addition, it may also be advantageous to devise a mobile application that uniquely utilizes a “smart” portable device (e.g. a smart phone) as a graphical feature points extraction tool for a visual recognition of a particular printed publication, as a voice pronunciation tool for an annotated dataset retrieved from a computer server, and also as a voice pronunciation contents generator for a variety of books printed publications. Moreover, it may also be advantageous to devise a method of operating a novel book pronunciation system and its related infrastructure in a sustainable business ecosystem, which encourages creation, maintenance, and utilization of robust voice pronunciation files and contents.